Everton 0 Chelsea 3: Pedro takes charge with sensational strike to keep leaders on track for the title

Pedro enlivens a drab match with a sensational strike to put league leaders Chelsea 1-0 up and on the road to a 3-0 victory over Everton - REUTERS

Chelsea can start mapping the route for the title parade and considering the appropriate party venues. They are almost there now.

Second half goals from Pedro, Gary Cahill and Willian edged Antonio Conte ever closer to the Premier League title, but it was the psychological impact of a blistering final 24 minutes at Goodison Park that will surely make the run-in a formality.

This was the defining game of the last few weeks of this campaign. Chelsea knew it. Tottenham knew it. The exuberant celebrations at full-time, Conte leaping onto the back of Thibaut Courtois, betrayed the emotions of the manager. He knows it is now a matter of when, not if.

If there was going to be a slip, Goodison Park was going to be the venue. Only Ronald Koeman’s side realistically stood between Conte's men and the title jitters. Lose, or even draw, and what was once the distant patter of those harrying Spurs players would become a thumping drum beat.

Chelsea did what they have done all season – a combination of ruthless efficiency to repel the opponent prior to the sprinkling of stardust as and when necessary in attack.

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Pedro's goal was a gemCredit: PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Their first from Pedro was a gem, a turn and strike from 20 yards to shift the momentum irreversibly in the leaders’ favour on 66 minutes. The second from Cahill was untidy, and Willian’s late third completed the formalities, but it was the ability to find the extra yard and locate the additional gear when it mattered that impressed.

True, Chelsea were full strength, Everton stricken – Morgan Schneiderlin the latest absentee with a groin strain – so this was more gentile a welcome than it might have been.

Nevertheless, this has always been one of those stadiums that doubles up as a barometer of championship pedigree. This was only the second home defeat of the season for the host.

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Lukaku slips when trying to knock in a rebound from three yardsCredit: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Koeman also had a plan. Or more precisely, he was happy to steal someone else’s. Everton adopted the Jose Mourinho blueprint that proved so successful when Chelsea were beaten at Old Trafford recently, the Dutchman deploying Idrissa Gueye in the Ander Herrera role, man-marking Eden Hazard.

The Senegal midfielder was diligent rather than flawless as the shadow, Hazard able to rid himself on enough occasions to maintain his usual menace.

Further upfield, Koeman ordered three strikers to scurry Chelsea’s three centre-backs into uncomfortable areas.

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Hazard misses after a mistake from StekelenburgCredit: PETER POWELL/EPA

There was more speed than wit about the strategy – especially in the case of Enner Valencia – but Dominic Calvert-Lewin almost justified his surprise inclusion within two minutes, a scruffy shot rebounding off the post. Cahill blocked Romelu Lukaku’s follow-up.

Then Chelsea did what they do, periodically demonstrating their attacking class through Hazard and Diego Costa.

Costa turned Ashley Williams on 11 minutes and it seemed the first goal would follow as the striker sent Hazard clear against Maarten Stekelenburg. Hazard dribbled past the Dutch keeper but the angle was too narrow.

Costa then seemed confused when volleying over from six yards, the ball bouncing off his head as the stadium waited for a linesman’s flag.

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Willian scores the thirdCredit: Reuters/Phil Noble

A pedestrian pace continued to be punctured by occasional brilliance, especially when Hazard tricked Everton with a cunning corner on 52 minutes.

As the Everton defenders waited for the in-swinger, Hazard played low to the near post for Matic to lay the ball to Moses. It was deflected an inch wide.

But the game's key moment came soon after, Pedro turning and firing left-footed into the top corner.

Cahill’s scruffy second on 79 minutes after a goalkeeper error ensured a comfortable finale before Willian provided the polish four minutes from the end.

89 min

87 min

Everton have been cut apart. Marcos Alonso pings a pass in to Diego Costa from the left touchline. The centre-forward plays it round the corner for Fabregas's third-man run. He sprints to the byline and cuts back a pass for Willian to side-foot crisply home.

82 min

80 min

Chelsea free-kick on the left after a clumsy Gueye foul, curled in by Hazard through a pathetic wall. Gueye hangs out a leg with less conviction than a Tiller girl. The ball goes through, catching Stekelenburg by surprise and the keeper weak-wristedly parries it straight to Cahill to tap it in.

The referee's busy at Goodison Park

77 min

76 min

Azpilicuet, who has already been booked, sarcastically strides 10 feet to show the wall is too deep, the line painted by Jon Moss too deep, that is. That's dissent but he is not awarded the second yellow card it merits.

69 min

67 min

What a goal! Superb from Pedro who has done very little today. He takes the ball with his back to goal 30 yards out, spins, sends Jagielka off to buy a pint of milk, drags it on to his left and arrows an unstoppable 22-yard shot into the top left corner.

63 min

60 min

Barkley wins a tackle on halfway, sliding in, then springs up and drives towards the area, tacking right to open up a space for Lukaku to run at David Luiz from the 18-yard line but the intended throughball is a weak flick and doesn't get through.

Time on ball (45 - 60 min)

58 min

Valencia latches on to a Jagielka pass and storms up the inside-right channel. Holgate is free on the outside and screams for the pass but Valencia decides to shoot instead and settles for a corner when his shot is deflected off Cahill's inner thigh.

56 min

No free-kick for that or a booking but one for Diego Costa when he tries to intercept a daft, bling backpass from Holgate. Stekelenburg races out and gets there half a second before Diego Costa who raise his foot in the slide tackle. Stekelenburg squeezes his clearance past Diego Costa then hits his sole with the top of hi foot in the followthrough.

54 min

52 min

Clever Chelsea corner routine brings the match back to life with a satisfying jolt. Pedro took it to the near post. Matic had made a cute run in front of the post and turned to lay it back to Moses who was steaming into the box to shoot first time. He clipped it into a thicket of shins and out for another corner.

48 min

47 min

Gary Neville sees a worrying tendency of Chelsea to let games drift early on. He thinks they should demonstrate more urgency. Pedro earns a free-kick on halfway that Chelsea's back three decide to use as an opportunity to light their Romeo y Julietas and stroke the ball about aimlessly.

44 min

41 min

Valencia beats Cahill on the right, reaches the byline and spears a cross towards the spot but Lukaku's momentum took him half a yard in front of the ball. He attempted a one-foot scorpion to try to connect but ended up doing a Larry Grayson 'shut-that-door' impression instead.

39 min

Calvert-Lewin needs a moment after a clash of heads. From the resulting throw-in Azpilicueta axes Lukaku with a scything foul when the centre-forward spins him 25 yards out to the left of the D. Barkley takes the free-kick but does not get it over the wall.

The shot count is similar

37 min

Matic clips Davies' ankle, much as Davies did to Diego Costa. when Davies, the boy on the burning deck, dashed ahead of the Chelsea midfielder to prevent a quicksilver break exploiting an open home defence. Cahill had shown some professionalism of his own a minute or two earlier with a deliberate handball to prevent an Everton breakaway.

Neither side able to dictate the game so far

Time on ball (15 - 30 min)

29 min

Everton fancy their chances behind Moses and are trying to overload their left wing with Calvert-Lewin, Baines and Lukaku breaking out to that flank. Jagielka hits a 50-yard diagonal over Moses's head, designed to spark that strategy but it's a foot too high and it parts the leaping Baines' mop top.

27 min

25 min

Diego Costa's turn to get on the end of a ball that drops over his shoulder. He wriggles free of Jagielka who ducks out of the header that Diego Costa wins, spins and blasts a volley over the bar. Antonio Conte buries his face into his palms and gives us the Edvard Munch.

23 min

Lukaku bullies David Luiz off with a bump of his hip to work a shooting opportunity from 22 yards. The ball was knocked over the top, he gathered it in his stride with a neat stun, brushed off David Luiz then speared a shot about a yard wide.

21 min

Gueye is sticking to his Hazard man-marking job more adhesively than he is actually sticking to Hazard. He is dogged in pursuit but Hazard is too slippery for him and beats him to a chipped diagonal pass. The flight of the ball comes to Gueye's rescue s Hazard cannot hook it towards the centre of the box.

19 min

David Luiz flaps when Everton launch a long ball from left-back towards the Chelsea box. He sees Lukaku advncing on him so he tries to volley it clear and ends up shanking it behind. Barkley's corner though, is not up to much.

Time on ball (0 - 15 min)

17 min

15 min

Chelsea are breaking with slick precision and Diego Costa bears down on the box when found by a lovely pass from Marcos Alonso. Jagielka slips at the crucial moment when on the half-turn to shepherd him away and it takes a very forceful sliding tackle from Davies to save the day. He took the ball and a portion of the Chelsea striker's ankle with it.

11 min

Terrific pass from Diego Costa after a 30-yard burst down the inside-right channel. Hazard drifts offside then checks back to go again and receive the pass to the right of the box. Stekelenburg tries to race out to beat him to it but hasn't the speed. Hazard's a little too wide to wrap his foot around it to get it inside the post and can only flay a shot into the side-netting.

9 min

7 min

Calvert-Lewin begins the break forward with a dart up the left and plays it to Barkley who steers a pinpoint pass for Lukaku's centre-to-left run. Azpilicueta stalks him all the way and draws the foul when Lukaku tries to wrestle him free from the pursuit.

6 min

Everton are wide open at the back so far, letting them in behind Holgate to earn a corner which they take short, shift across field and test Everton with an outswinging cross, a test they comfortably pass.

Chelsea respond

4 min

Frantic so far and Chelsea carve a swath through the middle of Everton's defence and Cahill takes a punt and shoots from 25 yards. It dips and swerves causing Stekelenburg to fumble it and leaves Williams to hack it away.

2 min

Excellent from Calvert-Lewin who makes a clever run between Azpilicueta and Moses. Jagielka slides a pass to him and he takes it on the outside of Azpilicueta and drives a low shot against the post with Courtois late to close the gap. The rebound take sit towards the centre of goal and Lukaku who slips before he can wrap his foot around it properly from three yards.

Here come the teams

Much rancour between the two clubs

Over John Stones in the summer of 2015 and Romelu Lukaku over the next few weeks. Another transfer between the two, 72 years ago, involved rancour of a domestic bent.

Tommy Lawton, the England centre-forward, had scored 70 goals in 95 appearances for Everton in the two seasons before the war, but moved to Chelsea in 1945, much to the dismay of the Gwladys Street End.

After many years of Everton taking stick for letting him go, Lawton revealed that he had forced the move to escape an unhappy marriage to a Liverpool lass.

“The marriage just wasn’t working out. In fact it was purgatory,” he said. “Home was hell, something had to be done. On reflection I should have stayed and transferred the wife.”

Midfielder Muhamed Besic is building up his fitness after a year out with a serious knee injury but James McCarthy (hamstring), Ramiro Funes Mori, Yannick Bolasie (both knee), Seamus Coleman (broken leg) and Aaron Lennon all remain sidelined.

Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has confirmed he was paying close attention to Everton striker Romelu Lukaku this week but with a view to stopping him scoring against Chelsea on Sunday rather than signing him in the summer.

Premier League leaders Chelsea have been repeatedly linked with the Belgian they sold to Everton for £28million as a possible replacement for Diego Costa, who has admirers in China.

Lukaku is the league's top scorer, with 24 goals to Costa's 19, and will provide Everton's main threat as Chelsea seek to extend their four-point lead over second-placed Tottenham Hotspur at Goodison Park.

"I think he is a really good player and is scoring a lot of goals in this season, not only this season, we must pay great attention," Conte told reporters on Friday.

"But it is the same, to find the right solution to stop them. We must find the right solution to stop Lukaku and all the other players."

Asked which striker he would prefer in his team, Conte said: "For me, my players are the best in the world. I don't change them with others."

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Credit: ACTION IMAGES

A win for Chelsea would confirm qualification for next season's Champions League in a game being billed as their last serious hurdle to winning the title, with only Middlesbrough, West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Sunderland to overcome.

But Conte was keen not to look beyond Sunday, highlighting the need for his team to keep a clean sheet after conceding in their past 11 games, including Tuesday's 4-2 win over Southampton.

"It's important to improve, to work on the situations we're conceding the goals. We are working on it. Everton are a really good team, a strong team, with great players in their squad and a physical team," said Conte.

"When we started this season, our first target was to play in the Champions League next season. It's an important target for the club, for the fans, for the players. But, for sure, now we stay in a position to try also to win the league."

Conte got an early sight of silverware this week when he sat beside Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to watch the club's under-18 team beat Manchester City 6-2 on aggregate, going into the dressing room afterwards to congratulate the youngsters.

"The work in the academy is very important to Chelsea," he said. "In this team I saw four, five players with good prospects."

What are the odds?

Everton: 29/10 Chelsea: 11/10 Draw: 27/10

What's our prediction?

We'll hand over to Merseyside football authority Chris Bascombe:

Everton will be feeling the love from White Hart Lane as they seek the win over Chelsea that could shift the momentum to Spurs. For Chelsea, a quick scan through their remaining games makes this fixture – potentially – a title decider. Victory at Goodison would surely seal the Premier League for Antonio Conte. But could fate have a say? At least two ex-Chelsea managers lost their job after a loss at Everton. Nothing so dramatic awaits a Conte defeat here, but there is enough dark recent history here to worry the Londoners.